Chefs have long enjoyed using watermelon in inventive, fun dishes that showcase its sweetness and it juicy texture.

Pork Belly and Watermelon with Kimchi Mole

In this dish, Joel Herrera, a founder of the local chefs group, Los Cocineros, matches the summer favorite with pork belly.

But he doesn’t stop there.

He infuses the watermelon with jalapeño and whiskey. Then he adds sweet spices, including fennel, cinnamon, star anise and cardamom to the pork belly, creating an engaging counterpart to the watermelon.

If it all seems too much for a hot summer day, then let Herrera cook it for you. It’s on the menu of Los Cocineros’ upcoming pop-up dinner, which is set for 6 p.m. July 10-11 at Amaya’s Tacos & Bakery, 1502 E. Commerce St. The price is $35 a person and you can bring your own bottle.

To make a reservation, go to Los Cocineros Facebook page and select the date of your choice.

For the Dry Rub: Combine salt, fennel, allspice and black pepper thoroughly. Rub onto all sides of the pork belly, place in a nonreactive pan and top with any remaining dry rub marinade over the meat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Remove pork belly from refrigerator and place in a roasting pan.

Pork Belly and Watermelon with Kimchi Mole

To make the braising liquid: In a large saucepan, saute onion, carrot and celery in olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and tomatoes and cook another 5 minutes. Add wine and cook until evaporated. Add cinnamon stick, star anise, juniper berries, cardamom, clove and chicken stock. Bring to a boil.

Pour hot braising liquid over pork belly. Cover and place in oven. Cook 3 1/2 hours or until completely tender when pierced with a fork. Note: The pork belly can be prepared up to this point and refrigerated in the braising liquid until ready to proceed.

Remove the belly from the braise and cool. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut belly into 4 portions. Saute in a hot skillet with a little oil for two minutes, fat side down. Finish warming in oven for 5 minutes.

Compressed Watermelon:
1 watermelon
1 jalapeño
¼ cup whiskey

Remove the watermelon rind and cut the watermelon flesh into slabs that are 8 inches square and about 1 inch thick. It is fine to have smaller slabs.

Place the slabs into several vacuum seal bags. Do not overlap. Spread the jalapeño slices over the watermelon and pour in the whiskey and vacuum seal the watermelon.

Place the bags into the fridge for an hour and drain when ready to plate.

Pickled Watermelon Rind:
Clean the rind and leave only the green of the skin, make a mixture of a cup of rice vinegar, 1 garlic clove, ½ tablespoon of peppercorns, ¼ cup of sugar and bring to a boil. Pour liquid over watermelon rinds and put the bowl in the fridge. These can hold for a couple of days and the longer they set the better.

To plate the dish, arrange the Kimchi Mole on four plates. Cut the pork belly and slabs of watermelon into smaller pieces and arrange on each plate. Add a cube or two of pickled watermelon rind. Garnish as you see fit, with cucumber matchsticks, mint leaves, microgreens or whatever you like. Use either of the photographs accompanying this article as a starting point.

Bienmesabe is a Spanish phrase that essentially means “tastes good to me.” You’ll discover this for yourself if you have the dessert at Nao Restaurant, 312 Pearl Parkway, which is celebrating the cuisine of Venezuela through July 7.

Or you can make it for yourself at home.

Essentially, the dish is a simple cake soaked in marsala or madeira, layered with coconut pastry and then topped with meringue, which you can finish with a blowtorch or under the broiler. Watch it closely, so it doesn’t burn.

Blanch the eggs and the sugar (whisk until pale yellow) until risen and soft (about 5 minutes). Fold in the flour slowly and pour in a sheet pan lined with a Silpat. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool and reserve.

In a sauce pan heat the milk, the sugar, the coconut milk, the coconut flakes and the butter, season with a pinch of salt. When it comes to a boil, add the cornstarch (diluted in a bit of water). Reduce the heat to low and stir vigorously until the texture thickens. Transfer to a plastic container and continue stirring until the mixture has cooled down. Reserve.

To set up Bienmesabe: Cut out a piece of bizcocho using a PVC mold or fill in a ramekin. Pour sweet marsala or madeira wine over the bizcocho until it is moist. Fill with coconut pastry cream and top with another piece of wine-soaked bizcocho. Place in the freezer.

Meringue:100 grams sugar (about 1/2 cup)2 egg whites, whipped

Cook the sugar into a caramel and bring the temperature up to 250 degrees. Pour over the whipped egg whites and continue to whip until the meringue is ready and cool down.

To plate the dessert: Unmold the bienmesabe. Let it sit for 10 minutes. Before serving, use a piping bag and form a crest of meringue (like spikes) all over the “cake.” Use a blowtorch to “brûlée” the meringue and decorate with dehydrated coconut shavings.

Are you in need of an appetizer recipe that will impress your guests and that you can make largely ahead of time?

Kraken Rum Glazed Kurobuta Pork Belly

That’s the beauty behind chef Jeff Wayne White’s Kraken Rum Glazed Kurobuta Pork Belly, which takes three days to get together. Most of the work, however, is done in advance. All you have to do is heat and assemble, before sending the hot plates out of your kitchen.

Haven’t got three days? White has just added this exciting dish to his menu at the Boiler House Texas Grill and Wine Garden in the Pearl Brewery, 312 Pearl Parkway, so you can let him prepare it for you. Either way, you’re sure to love this version of pork belly.

You can also shorten the recipe by using a store-bought whole grain mustard, but don’t skimp on the glaze, the pickled radishes or, least of all, the pork belly itself.

You can find Kurobuta pork belly through Williams-Sonoma, but you might also want to ask your butcher or contact the folks at South Texas Heritage Pork about getting some from them.

We came to know Aaron Gonzalez when he was the chef at Pike’s Place in Pipe Creek. He has now taken over the space, just off Highway 16, and rechristened it Backyard Bistro.

He has teamed with Blanca Cruz, a fixture on the local dining scene for the last few years, for the venture, which combines Hill Country cuisine with Mexican favorites.

One item on the menu that he has carried over from one restaurant to the other is his Cinnamon-Basil-Black Pepper Ice Cream, an irresistible combination of flavors that is quite easy to make if you have an ice cream maker.

In a saucepan, heat the basil and cream to a simmer. Remove from heat. Add sugar and whisk in the vanilla, cinnamon and black pepper. Cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until cold. Finish in ice cream maker, using manufacturer’s instructions.

At the recent San Antonio Cellar Classic, those who got past the vast array of wines found themselves faced with two similar sweet potato dishes that were simple yet sublime.

Yet the road each chef took to get that dish to the table was different, even if the end results mirrored each other.

Jesse Perez of the upcoming Arcade at the Pearl Brewery served his lemon sweet potatoes as a foundation for flank steak with a chimichurri sauce. To make the sweet potatoes, he roasted them in a convection oven at 400 degrees for 90 minutes until they were tender. Then he puréed them with lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and a little cream.

A handful of tables away, Stefan Bowers of Feast, 1024 S. Alamo St., had a similar recipe but a different approach. He roasted his sweet potatoes for 10 hours at 200 degrees. “Sweet potatoes loved to be cook slow and low,” he said. Then he added lemon juice, salt and a touch of cream.

The choice of cooking the sweet potatoes is yours — you could use a crock pot, if you wanted — as long as they’re tender. The beauty of this recipe goes beyond its simplicity. It has no added sugar, and it doesn’t need any. You’ll taste for yourself how naturally sweet these bright and colorful tubers really are, perfect for fall dinners including that great sweet potato day, Thanksgiving.

Take the chicken and run your hand in between the skin and breast to make space for seasonings. Take the olive oil and blend with the herbs and garlic to form a paste, then season the chicken’s cavity and breast with salt and pepper. Once seasoned add the paste inside the cavity and outside in between the skin and breast and also on the skin.

Take the celery, carrots and onion and toss them in a mixing bowl with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Take a small sheet pan and spread all the mirepoix across the pan. Lay the chicken on its back. Place it in the oven for 1 hour. Check the temperature with a meat thermometer to make sure it is cooked to 165 in the deepest part of the breast.

Let the chicken rest on a cutting board, and take a strainer over a small sauce pot and strain the cooking juices into the sauce pot. Bring the liquid to a simmer, and slowly sprinkle the flour across the liquid (this is called the singer method) and stir to incorporate until it becomes the consistency of sand. Take the stock or broth and slowly add while stirring the roux. The final product will be a sauce that will be really nice with the chicken. Make sure that the sauce simmers for 15 minutes to allow the flour to cook out.

Makes 1 chicken.

From Zach Lutton/Zedric’s Healthy Gourmet to Go

Posted in Chefs' Corner, RecipesComments Off on Herb-Roasted Chicken from Zach Lutton of Zedric’s Healthy Gourmet to Go

Are you looking for a fun, fresh and blessedly easy dessert this summer? Take a tip from Rudolfo Martinez, who operates the Tapa Tapa food truck at Alamo Street Eat Bar, 609 S. Alamo St.

Martinez, one of the crew in the truck wearing a “Not Rudolfo” T-shirt, has made a great many fans in the past year with his Watermelon Poprocks dessert, a simple creation that would take no time for you to make at home.

All it takes is some cubes of watermelon, which you can even buy already cut up, plus a few fresh mint leaves. Then top the mix with Poprocks, that childhood favorite that explodes on the tongue with an effervescence that is whimsical and welcome. That’s it.You’ve got a simple treat that’s actually quite complex on the tongue.

You won’t want to add the candy until each individual serving is ready to be eaten. In other words, don’t sprinkle the Poprocks over the whole bowl of fruit and let it sit. The candy will get get soggy and lose its sparkle.

I hadn’t see Poprocks in stores for years — that is, until recently, when I found them at Spec’s, which is now at 5219 DeZavala Road as well as 14623 I-35 N. That means you can make this carbonated candy-crowned confection any time you’d like — and without having to turn the oven on.

Or you can just head to South Alamo Street and order up Martinez’s terrific fish tacos or 9-cheese macaroni and follow it with a taste of summer that’s light and perfectly refreshing.

Posted in Chefs' CornerComments Off on A Dessert So Easy You Can Make It Without Turning on the Oven

Chef Steve Warner of Two Step Restaurant and Cantina, 9840 W. Loop 1604 W., has given Scotch eggs a makeover. Instead of rolling the eggs in sausage, he has created a seafood coating that mixes salmon and shrimp together.

Dice salmon fillet, smoked salmon and tiger prawns, then chop finely. Mix together with chives and salt. When mixed, place in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

Peel soft-boiled eggs, being careful not to break. Take seafood mix out of the fridge and divide into four equal parts.

With wet hands, mold seafood mix around soft-boiled egg, making sure that the mix is equal thickness around the egg. When all eggs are covered with the seafood mix, place in the fridge on grease-proof paper for 30 minutes.

In three separate containers, you should have;

Seasoned flour

Beaten eggs

Bread crumbs

Pass the seafood scotch eggs from flour to eggs then to bread crumbs.

Heat the oil in a fryer to 160 degrees. Put scotch eggs into the flyer and cook until golden brown. Take out and put into an oven tray and finish in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 3 minutes.

Take out of the oven, cut in half and serve with green salad and caper relish.

Set out 6 soufflé cups. Pour 1 tablespoon chocolate liqueur into each cup.

Over a low flame, melt 1/2 cup sugar to the hard crack stage. Pour 2 tablespoons of the melted sugar into each of the cups.

Over a low flame, bring the heavy cream to a steam. Add the chocolate and the vanilla. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, yolks, remaining sugar and remaining chocolate liqueur. Then temper the eggs with the chocolate and egg mixture.

Put the chocolate custard into the soufflé cups. Place the cups into a water bath and bake until the internal temperature of the custards reaches 185. Remove from the water bath, let cool, and refrigerate overnight. When ready to serve, heat a thin knife in boiling water. Run around the edge of each custard. Upend each custard on a plate and serve.

At Two Step Restaurant and Cantina, 9840 W. Loop 1604 N., chef Steve Warner offers up some hearty Texas fare, including fork-tender chicken-fried steak, as it’s called on the menu, fried catfish, bacon-wrapped pork loin and barbecue, all in a building that was fashioned around two 19th century landmarks.

To wash down that food, he has a full menu of margaritas to suit every taste. And he has shared a couple of recipes.

“The key to all our margaritas is the fresh squeezed juice,” says Adrienne Muñoz, who is Warner’s wife and manager of the restaurant. “We tried several options of store bought, non-pastuerized juice and the flavor just isn’t the same.”

If the limes are too bitter for you, add a touch of agave nectar to provide balance, she says.